Hit-and-run Car Traced To Owner

TAVARES — For weeks after two teens were seriously hurt in a March hit-and-run accident, law officers hunted for the red Camaro seen speeding from the crash.

On Wednesday, they found it. And they discovered why it hadn't been found sooner. It had been spray-painted black, troopers said.

On Thursday, the man believed to have been the driver of the car surrendered to the Florida Highway Patrol. Dwight Everette Foster, 33, was charged Thursday with leaving the scene of an accident with serious bodily injury and tampering with evidence.

The charges stem from a March 16 crash on Picciola Road just north of Leesburg.

Jason Bowen, 15, of 4018 Picciola Road, Fruitland Park, received serious injuries to his leg and face after a red Chevrolet Camaro turned left in front of his 1994 Suzuki motorcycle.

The teen and his passenger, Christina Smith, 16, 1309 Peters Drive, Leesburg, were thrown from the bike. Both of Christina's feet were broken.

When Florida Highway Patrol Trooper Jack Hoppenstedt appealed to Lake residents for help in finding the car, he said his office was ''inundated with calls about red Camaros.''

Hoppenstedt tracked each tip down. When he got to Foster's name, he learned Foster's car had disappeared. He later learned why.

The car had been spray-painted black and spirited out of the county, where it was repaired, repainted red and returned to Foster's house at 13215 Grand Terrace Drive, Grand Island, Hoppenstedt said. The car was seized and taken to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement crime lab in Orlando.

Technicians will try to match paint, a broken taillight assembly and parts of a rear spoiler found at the accident scene to the car.